The Stanford OHNS Core Center is organized into two Core facilities: Core I - Imaging Core and Core II - Inner Ear Physiology Core. Both cores serve to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborative research on the basic mechanisms of inner ear function, development, and therapeutic strategies. The Core Center user base comprises more than a dozen Principal Investigators working on a broad range of molecular, biophysical, developmental, whole animal, as well as engineering based projects all on topics that are of relevance to the mission of the NIDCD. Three goals are being pursued in both cores with an overarching strategy and philosophy where the Core Center serves as a hub for knowledge and technology (Aim 1) with the goal of generating an informed user base where students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty share successes but most importantly also problems and solutions. This, in turn, stimulates collaborative research (Aim 2) because it teaches critical thinking and solving problems as a team. Finally, the Core Center makes available access to state-of-the-art technology (Aim 3) uniquely applicable to solving inner ear-related questions and research. These resources would be out of reach for a single laboratory simply because the costs to maintain and appropriately utilize the equipment would be economically unbearable.